Economic Imperatives and Ethical Values in Global Business

The South African Experience and International Codes Today

S. Prakash Sethi and Oliver F. Williams, C.S.C.

John W. Houck Notre Dame Series in Business Ethics

“A major academic contribution to our understanding of the economic, social, moral, and political forces that swirled around the international campaign to end the policy of apartheid in South Africa. I rank this book among the top scholarly studies of the topic.”—James E. Post, Professor of Management, Boston University

“For those interested in learning how to convert mistakes of the past into positive initiatives for the future, this book is a ‘must read’.”— Global Focus

“A monumental achievement . . .”— The Christian Century

_Economic Imperatives and Ethical Values in Global Business _offers an in-depth and systematic analysis of the workings of the Sullivan Principles and their impact on the interactions of foreign corporations with South Africa. Published for the first time in the United States, this book interprets how the experience of the Sullivan Principles might instruct the process of developing codes of ethics as large multinational corporations cope with issues of human rights, living and working conditions of workers, environmental protection, and sustainable growth in their overseas manufacturing operations.

S. PRAKASH SETHI is university distinguished professor, academic director of executive programs, and professor of management at the Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College, The City University of New York. Sethi has published 23 books and more than 130 articles. He is currently the chairperson of the Mattel Independent Monitoring Council for Mattel Corporation’s Global Manufacturing Principles.

OLIVER F. WILLIAMS, C.S.C., is associate professor of management in the Mendoza School of Business and academic director of the Center for Ethics and Religious Values in Business at the University of Notre Dame. He also teaches in South Africa at the University of Cape Town and Stellenbosch University. Williams is editor of Moral Imagination and Global Codes of Conduct, both published by the University of Notre Dame Press.

Reviews

“This comprehensive book, breathtaking in scope and detail concerning the Sullivan Principles and derivative lessons, is a “must read” for corporate and policy practitioners and scholars interested in the manifold and ever-changing issues of multinational corporate social responsibilities in the global political economy of the twenty-first century. We owe a debt of thanks to the authors for focusing our attention on this inexhaustible issue in the context of arguably the most intractable situation the international business community had to deal with in the last part of the twentieth century. This is truly an important book!” — Business & Society